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If you're one of the many people planning to start using more paper checks to avoid incurring a monthly debit-card fee, think again. While many merchants continue to accept paper checks, some are moving in the opposite direction, among them
national grocery store chain Whole Foods.

By now we're all accustomed to hearing about the "two-speed economy," in which the wealthy flourish and the less affluent fall farther and farther behind. The widening gap between rich and poor has not been lost on the stock market: The valuations of luxury goods companies are much higher than those of lower-end firms.

The sweet taste and sunny hue of the banana contrast sharply with the high environmental and social costs its cultivation extracts in Latin America: pollution, deforestation, poor working conditions. Whole Foods Market is working to change that, in partnership with a non-profit international school in Costa Rica called EARTH University.

Do you get a warm fuzzy feeling when you open your cupboards? If you use products made by companies like Method, King Arthur Flour Company, and Seventh Generation, you're supporting businesses officially certified as do-good corporations by the nonprofit B Lab -- where the "B" stands for "benefit."